March 9, 2000

For David Geffen, tell-all book hardly a dream work

By MICHAEL WHITE
AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES -- Publicly, David Geffen isn't talking about a new biography that paints the billionaire entertainment mogul as an occasionally generous but often ruthless figure who bullied his way to the top in Hollywood.

Privately, though, Geffen has complained to executives and editors at the publishing house Bertelsmann and its Random House subsidiary that the book is inaccurate in its portrayal of his business dealings and private life, the author said.

"The Operator: David Geffen Builds, Buys and Sells the New Hollywood" chronicles Geffen's life from his childhood as the son of over-indulgent immigrants to his founding of the DreamWorks studio with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

The book, by Wall Street Journal entertainment columnist Tom King, appeared in bookstores Tuesday.

The book provides an often unflattering portrait of a man willing to betray friends and sacrifice personal relationships in order to get his way. Yet it also details Geffen's extraordinary generosity to friends and charitable causes, including millions of dollars he personally donated to support AIDS research and help those who have the disease. Geffen is openly gay, and the book identifies some of the men with whom he has had relationships -- none of them stars.

"This is not a character assassination," King said. "Far from it. This book gives Geffen all he is due for his many extraordinary and towering achievements. It also shows the man behind that mask. He wasn't always a Boy Scout in his business dealings."

Through a spokeswoman, Geffen declined to comment on the book.

In one anecdote, King writes of how Geffen deliberately destroyed his friendship with Warner Bros. records chief Mo Ostin in order to gain a negotiating advantage. Geffen, who was renegotiating a contract with Ostin's company, feared he would be a tough opponent.

"If I don't have a fight with Mo, I will fail. The company will fail. And I'd rather die than fail," the book quotes Geffen as saying.

Geffen, the book says, invited Ostin's wife, Evelyn, to lunch, where he relentlessly bullied and insulted her. He insisted her 34-year marriage was a sham and made critical remarks about her children.

The ploy worked. Mo Ostin was so incensed that he refused to speak with Geffen for more than a year. Geffen conducted negotiations with Ostin's less adroit associate.

Geffen eventually mended fences with the couple and named Ostin to oversee DreamWorks Records.

A spokesman for Random House said Geffen has complained vigorously to the company and Bertelsmann about unspecified inaccuracies, but declined an opportunity to suggest corrections.

"We keep hearing that the book is filled with inaccuracies," said Random House spokesman Stuart Applebaum. "But we're still waiting for a single citation to that effect."

The 594-page work promises to be of keen interest in Hollywood, where Geffen ranks among the most powerful of power brokers. As the book documents in detail, few individuals have wielded so much influence over the films Americans watch and the music they hear.

Geffen was a key force behind such performers as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Eagles and Jackson Browne. He has worked with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. As producer of the movie "Risky Business," he cast Tom Cruise in the role that made the young actor a star. Geffen's financial backing helped launch "Cats" on Broadway.

"In my mind no one has had a greater impact or influence on the movies we watch and the music we listen to than David Geffen," King said in an interview.

Initially, Geffen cooperated with King and even urged friends and associates to speak candidly with the author. Geffen broke contact after becoming alarmed about the book's direction and tone, King said.

Still, Geffen apparently never tried to prevent friends and relatives from talking to King, the author said.

King believes that despite the concerns, Geffen wanted his story to be told.

"He wanted to send a message that he was confident and secure enough that he was willing to take a chance and allow his life story to be researched and written in a very real way," King said. "Maybe though now, in the end, he really wasn't prepared for that after all."